MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

IOC punishes Indonesia over ban on Israeli athletes

The IOC's move came too late to salvage the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday issued sanctions against Indonesia, suspending all dialogue regarding the country's bid to host the Olympic Games, after Jakarta barred Israeli gymnasts from competing in a world championship.

The punitive measures were announced following Indonesia's refusal to grant visas to Israeli athletes scheduled to participate in the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, which began last week in the Indonesian capital. The Muslim-majority nation cited the ongoing conflict in Gaza as the reason for the entry ban, a decision the Israeli Gymnastics Federation called “shocking and heartbreaking.”

The IOC's Executive Board stated that discussions on Indonesia’s potential bid for the 2036 Olympic Games are immediately suspended. The governing body for global sport emphasized that the actions of the Indonesian government deprived athletes of their right to compete peacefully, regardless of nationality.

The suspension will remain in place until the government in Jakarta provides “assurances that all athletes, regardless of nationality, would be eligible to compete in the country in the future,” the IOC said in a statement.

In addition to halting all dialogue, the IOC formally recommended that all other international sports federations refrain from organizing international sporting events or meetings in Indonesia. This call for a widespread sporting boycott is intended to pressure the nation to reverse its policy of excluding athletes based on their nationality.

The IOC is also adapting its rules for future competitions, requiring international federations to include an explicit guarantee of entry for all athletes into the respective country for all Olympic qualifying competitions.

The move, however, comes too late to salvage the situation for the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, which run until Saturday. The Israeli delegation was unable to attend the event in Jakarta.

The Israeli federation had appealed the exclusion to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), demanding either a guarantee of their athletes' participation or the cancellation/relocation of the event. CAS rejected the “applications for urgent interim measures,” allowing the World Championships to proceed without the Israeli team.

The IOC has invited Indonesia's National Olympic Committee and the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) to a meeting at its Lausanne headquarters to discuss the handling of the situation that led to the exclusion.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, already a persona non grata in Israel, was traveling to Indonesia this week for meetings with President Prabowo Subianto to reaffirm the bilateral strategic relationship between the two nations and reciprocate the latter's trip to the South American country earlier this year.